


Snow in the Shadows v.1.0

by Aquelon



Series: shadows hlolidays friendship adventure [1]
Category: Blaseball (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Hloliday Parties, The Shadows, but it is presentable enough that you can look at it, but there is references to it, i avoid actually disclosing any forbidden knowledge in here, like i AM posting what is approximately a rough draft of this fic, not quite found family but It Will Be, this is a draft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-11
Updated: 2021-01-11
Packaged: 2021-03-15 07:34:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,609
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28684911
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aquelon/pseuds/Aquelon
Summary: The Shadows players have a hloliday party!This is essentially the outline of this fic, which is presentable enough to resemble a fic itself but doesn't have much description or dialogue, because it is already a lot of words and if I tried to finish the fic it would probably never get done.  And then y'all would never see this very good reminder to think about the shadows players/spleculation on ways they could become friends.  And that would be a darn shame.With that being said,PLEASE THINK ABOUT YOUR LOCAL SHADOWS PLAYERS
Relationships: lots of shadows ampersand dynamics, milo brown and kennedy meh are making out in the background but it's not the focus of the fic
Series: shadows hlolidays friendship adventure [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2102508
Comments: 1
Kudos: 7





	1. Snow in the Shadows v.1.0

**Author's Note:**

> Chapter Two is just a list of _dramatis personae_ and the context and information about them you need to understand this fic, because most people have not gone on a deep dive through the wiki pages of all seventeen non-Coffee Cup Exclusive non-forbidden knowledge shadows players.

-One night late in the winter, Kevin Dudley realizes that “oh darn, we missed Chlristmas!” It can also be spelled Chrlistmas. Or Xlmas, or Xmlas. Chlrlistlmlas if you’re feeling adventurous. His teammate in the same shadows, Wyatt Dovenpart, cannot be bothered to care, but Kevin kinda wants to do something about that. Maybe have his old teammate Joe over.

-He calls up Joe Voorhees and they have a conversation that’s really great. It definitely involves Dlie Hlard and/or any horror movies that might be hloliday movies. Somehow, this brings up the fact that _Joe’s_ old teammates Ortiz Morse and Donia Bailey (Joe’s been on so many teams, man) are also in the shadows.

-Donia doesn’t pick up the phone yet because she is too busy being goth and sad. Ortiz, meanwhile, does.

-The Garages have probably the most knowable Shadows, with six knowable shadows players. Lori Boston is probably somewhat aware that they’re missing the hlolidays. Kevin and Joe’s phone call gets the Garages shadows talking. (It’s mostly Kevin’s phone call. Joe Voorhees does not strike me as the most talkative player.) The Seattle Shadows Co-op comes up with a plan.

-They can host a hloliday party for the shadows. Not just the shadows players that know each other, not just the main team shadows, not even just the non-fk shadows; all of the shadows players are invited. It… probably takes place in Seattle, but honestly it’s mostly in The Shadows, and if other players want to show up, they can, but it is in The Shadows so it’s kind of difficult to access.

-There's just one problem: how many people that is. There are 278 players, 291 if you include the Crabs’ shadows, and that’s assuming that no one else shows up (e.g. the rest of the Artists or the rest of SIBR or RGB or BC Noir, seeing as those entire teams are sort-of in the shadows as of regular play, or any players that were previously in the shadows, such as Chorby Short or Fitzgerald Wanderlust or Goodwin Morin et cetera). Yeahhhhhh they’re gonna need to do a lot of kitchen duty and decoration duty.

-This obviously is not happening on time for, uh, Bloxing Day or whatever. Maybe not even on time for New Years (Lori Boston is the only one who celebrates New Years because blaseball time is very fast). But regardless, it's happening.

-They get Donia Bailey to help them find a good spot for the party, and they have to bribe her with so many cookies, but she is the only one who knows exactly how the shadows work whose name sticks in your mind for longer than like ten seconds without being technically illegal. She finds them a Large Location and, hey, it has a roller derby rink, and hey, if they flood that it could be a skating rink. There are actually quite a few such rinks. It might be a disused rec center or something, possibly just a roller derby arena, and it is large enough to fit 300 people while providing space for if people want some alone time.

-”Just as long as you can get the rink thawed afterwards,” Donia says, but she is in fact already planning to use roller derby strats while skating. Everyone else can deal with it.

-There’s also space to put up a tree, probably. Milo Brown, who eagerly gets involved at the first possible opportunity, might be the expert on trees, but I’m not sure how much help that’ll be. There is an area that can be repurposed into a working kitchen pretty easily, and lots of storage space. There are a lot of high ceilings and high doorways, so Adkins Gwiffin can still fit.

-With close to 300 people invited and an unknown amount of time before they have to go for it, Mike Townsend and Terrell Bradley start on the cooking immediately. For the sake of efficiency, someone sends out an email asking if anyone wants to help with the truly ridiculous number of turkeys and gingerbreads they need to make. (Kevin also talks to Dovenpart more directly about this, bc they’re allergic to email.) Wyatt Dovenpart, Atlas Guerra, Ortiz Morse, and an unknown number of other shadows players volunteer their assistance.

-Kevin, Mcdowell Karim, Lori Boston, Joe, Nolanestophia Patterson, and an unknown number of other shadows players help out with decorating. Milo Brown also contributes his assistance to the decorations and it looks good. It is also established that the ‘spirits’ involved in Mcdowell’s divination are usually a different thing from ghosts such as Kevin, but that if he ever wants to come over and mess with an ouija board, he totally should.

-Nagomi Meng clips through a wall and crashes into the kitchen preparations, and figures that, hey, she should probably help out. She _does_ try to do the “slap a chicken with like a zillion Joules of force so it cooks instantly” thing and it _does_ work. She also asks Dovenpart several personal questions that get him pissed off, specifically about how to attain "win duplication glitches". Ortiz Morse gets her to stop asking about that and they discuss speedrun strats for a while, as their respective blaseball strategies are both perhaps better suited to speedrunning than to actual blaseball.

-This is also when it gets brought up that Atlas Guerra’s pitches could hypothetically re-reverse the flow of the Chicago River, and Dovenpart just straight-up exits through a window and sits outside for like ten minutes.

-They probably have the party on New Years, even though (as previously mentioned) Lori Boston is the only one who celebrates New Years. If it's not New Years, they're still going to treat it kind of like New Years and have the party culminate at midnight.

-Party time! Congratulations, et cetera.

-Milo Brown and Kennedy Meh probably both know the other is in the shadows, right? And they’ve probably interacted a bunch before while both in the shadows. Still, I think I’m gonna go with “they show up separately”. Kennedy gets driven here by Adkins Gwiffin; Milo was helping decorate. They reunite and immediately become inseparable for the rest of the night.

-Terrell Bradley and the baking trio (Mike, Dovenpart, Atlas) are still working on making food. They can probably manage to stop by now and still have enough food, but you’ve gotta be sure and if everyone gets free leftovers, that’s part of the holiday spirit! (Several other shadows players and Nagomi are still helping.) Part of this is because they have to bribe Donia Bailey with shortbread to get her to stay at the party, and part of it is because the turkey needs to be freshly cooked.

-Marquez Clark and Kennedy Meh have an extremely awkward conversation about vampirism. It’s awkward because Meh just wants to interact with his boyfriend and maybe get in a mosh pit when the music starts, while Marquez is best described as an overly enthusiastic apparently-British weirdo. (Marq might get along better with the also eccentric players like Kevin Dudley and Kennedy Cena.)

-Kennedy Meh has an even more awkward conversation with Kennedy Cena, which is how Cena gets directed to go interact with Marquez. Kennedy Cena does say “Nothing bad ever happens to the Kennedys” while patting Kennedy Meh on the shoulder and then Kennedy Meh says “if you touch me again I will literally drink all of your blood :/” Milo is like “uhh lllllet’s go skating instead of this”.

-Let’s check out the skating rink! Joe is, in fact, stealing all the dang skates. Does one of the shadows have the ability to create ice skates out of nothing, or did someone open a portal to one of the LAi in the locker room… seriously how is there still enough skates for everyone, Joe’s been stealing them all night (possibly as an alternative crime option to any worse crime options; instead of doing War Crimes he is focused on just acquiring more skates). Milo Brown and Kennedy Meh are probably having a cute time. Lori and Stoph are trying to figure out a cheerleading routine on ice.

-*Cowboy music sting* Donia Bailey has finally found a pair of skates that didn’t get stolen in the time between finding them and putting them on. She is on the ice. Everyone get out of the way… unless they want to do roller derby with her.

-They do need to re-flood the ice because it is getting cut up by all the skates. Everyone successfully agrees to save one of the rinks for skater derby after that. What that means is that while Ortiz Morse works out zamboni logistics, Joe Voorhees (who should be helping with the zamboni logistics, dammit) steals Donia’s skates again and she has to get more new ones. Adkins Gwiffin is the zamboni.

-When it comes down to it, the group of people participating in skater derby winds up being Donia, Joe, Kennedy Cena, Marq Clark, Lori Boston, Nagomi Meng (who took a break from speedrunning cookie making), and several unknowable shadows. Donia wrecks shop, but one of the unknowable shadows players is a close second and Nagomi Meng is pretty good (due to using her speedrun strats to simply clip through any attempts at being blocked). Joe needs to be reminded not to kick people in skater derby, but there fortunately avoid being any injuries, mostly because he’s mostly trying to kick Nagomi and her hitbox is janky. But Donia absolutely dominates and everyone is impressed.

-Kevin Dudley is using his skill as a former water boy to serve everyone drinks. Good news, folks: all 25+ turkeys are ready! That means that it’s time for people to have food, and that once the last several batches of gingerbread and a cake are done, the chef squad will be done with the ridiculous amount of stuff they have to do.

-People are sitting together for dinner who sometimes might not otherwise interact, and many conversations are had over turkey, turkey alternatives, and mashed potatoes.

-Nagomi Meng gets a friendship point with Wyatt Dovenpart and they have a positive interaction. 

-Marq Clark, Kennedy Cena, Kevin Dudley, and Joe Voorhees are all sharing a table and their conversation is veering dangerously close to politics while also becoming increasingly incomprehensible and tangent-ridden; Kennedy Cena and Kevin Dudley are also bonding over their experience with the Pies' ability to be mean. 

-Mcdowell Karim, Mike Townsend, and Nolanestophia Patterson are giving each other advice about popularity, and its advantages and disadvantages. All three of them have opinions on it. 

-Milo Brown and Kennedy Meh have no space for anyone else and are having a good time. 

-Adkins Gwiffin, as a motorized scooter, gives Lori Boston some free legal advice about reading the Terms and Conditions (there are also some Unknowable Shadows at that table). 

-Atlas Guerra winds up sitting with Terrell Bradley and Ortiz Morse; at least one of those two can be a better parental figure than her weird-ass real parents; also, they’ve snagged the table closest to where the food is so that they can help serve it. 

-Donia Bailey could have sat with literally any of these people, but despite how enjoyable skater derby was, she has a reputation to maintain so she actively avoids everyone to go eat alone.

-After everyone’s finished eating, more activities happen. 

-Milo and Kennedy are once again skating a bunch, and Marq Clark is trying to play cricket on the ice. 

-Meanwhile, there’s a Sluper Smlash Brlos tournament going on, which maybe bears an uncanny resemblance to CPU Kerfuffle (by Ryan Chongoshow) but don’t worry about it. Nagomi Meng is technically not cheating at it. Mike Townsend is doing, frankly, a great job! Wyatt Dovenpart is allergic to Sluper Smlash Brlos, and therefore is now in the other room. 

-In the other room, it’s karaoke time! Okay, this is several other rooms. Ortiz Morse, Lori Boston, and Stoph Patterson are doing the most karaoke per karaoke. They are also offering regular musical features, as are the unknowable shadows of the Garages. Mike is contributing to that in-between Sluper Smlash Brlos games, but man, the power of gamer. There may be a mosh pit which Kennedy Meh is participating in. 

-Meanwhile, Adkins Gwiffin has the zoomies and is offering mini-train rides. Dove, Kevin, and Joe wind up helping Terrell out with the dishes, of which there are a lot, but they can save some of the dishwashing for later. 

-Donia Bailey just wants to be a sad goth cowboy in the corner. Unfortunately, all of the corners are occupied suddenly.

-Folks, it is midnight. Lori Boston celebrates the New Year, everyone else kind of celebrates, Marq Clark and someone whose name just kind of slips from your mind (something Cembons? No, no, Clembons is a common enough last name, so it’s probably Clembons, but something about the name makes you think that Cembons as a last name would fit them) also celebrate the New Year more than you might expect, Milo Brown and Kennedy Meh make out because they heard somewhere that that’s a thing you can do on New Years. And the rest of the year. But still.

-People start to filter out of the party. Adkins can no longer offer mini-train rides because they need to start offering regular-sized-train rides. Everyone does get a little bit of leftovers if they want some.

-Donia Bailey is still trying to find an empty corner to sulk in, when she runs into Kevin and Joe. Somehow, the conversation turns to the topic of cowboys, as both Donia and Kevin are cowboys, and they have a decent conversation about cowboy things that also involves the fact that if Donia ever needs to hang out with someone, the rest of the shadows are absolutely down for that; she’s made this party immensely better this evening. There are even a couple of other goths of note, to varying extents of goth, who might especially appreciate her vibes. Joe doesn’t say much in the conversation but does successfully minimize the ominousness of his default looming state and is presumably having a good time due to having been on the same team as both of these people. 

-Donia says that she appreciates it and that she might take him up on that offer sometime but for now she’s gonna go. She literally vanishes into the shadows, which both Kevin and Joe agree is hella cool.

-The Garages, Kevin, Joe, Dovenpart, and Nagomi (also a couple unknowable shadows) do enough cleanup on the place that it’s relatively presentable. They’ll probably need to do more tomorrow or later, but some of the decorations can probably stay up all year.

-Nagomi Meng gives Wyatt Dovenpart some advice on video games that is applicable to his situation vis a vis them, regardless of which situation he has. Then she noclips away and Wydove leaves with Kevin and Joe (they’re gonna drop Joe off in Hellmouth(‘s shadows) probably and then Dove will watch some Naruto).

-Stoph is taking a nap. Terrell will carry her to Adkins Gwiffin and/or the Big Garage if he has to.

-It is snowing out, which it wasn’t before, but it’s snowing just enough to provide the perfect wintry vibe to the shadows. Mcdowell Karim and Mike Townsend happen to look out the window at just the right time to see what might be some sort of spirit of winter, or possibly just a regular silhouette in a joat and jnowpants… jloat? Jnlowpants?... and also a jlanta jat… Possibly that was just an optical illusion from being tired, though. Possibly-not-Denim-Chilly gives a friendlyish wink and vanishes behind a puff of snow. It might just be the wind, or one of the shadows that we can’t know about, that whispers, “Happy Hlolidays to all, and to all a good night!”


	2. Dramatis Personae/ people who are here

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So that you're not expected to look up information on seventeen different players in order to understand what I'm talking about in this fic!
> 
> This is all based on wiki lore and is the wiki lore that this fic draws on. If it conflicts with your headcanons, that is okay, and I invite you to think about how your versions of these players would interact with the other shadows players because interactions go brrrrr.
> 
> In order of appearance/of being mentioned by name in this fic:

**Kevin Dudley:** he/him. In the Unlimited Tacos shadows, formerly on the Charleston Shoe Thieves for most of his active career, and initially on the Philadelphia Pies. He is a cowboy and a ghost. On the Pies, he was a water boy; on the Shoe Thieves, he was an accountant (sort of) and very much part of the team.

 **Wyatt Dovenpart:** he/they. In the Unlimited Tacos shadows, has been with the team since season 1. Pitcher of the Grand Unslam, which has had Effects on both them and their city; used to work as a baker; haunted by a digital doppelganger, unless said doppelganger replaced him in the aftermath of the Grand Unslam. I'm using their last name rather than their first name because using the first names of Wyatts is confusing.

 **Joe Voorhees:** he/him. In the Hellmouth Sunbeams shadows, formerly on the Houston Spies, Charleston Shoe Thieves, and Canada Moist Talkers. Quiet, threatening, and quite possibly murderous. His Shoe-Thieves-era specialization in stealing ice skates is well suited for having some ice skates to steal.

 **Donia Bailey:** she/they. In the Houston Spies shadows, has been with the team since season 1. Former(?) double agent. Cowgirl with an affinity for roller derby. Officially sad and goth now. Jerk with a heart of Likes Her Friends.

 **Ortiz Morse:** he/him. In the Seattle Garages shadows, formerly on the Canada Moist Talkers. His efficiency strategy, known as The Plan, led to him leading the league in number of walks allowed for a long time. Likes karaoke and plays the telegraph key. Does bartending for the Seattle Shadows Co-Op. Is a Siphon.

 **Lori Boston:** she/her. In the Seattle Garages shadows, has been with the team since her introduction to the league. Certifiable isekai protagonist. An outgoing furry with a mild affinity for the clothing style 'cozy goth'. Definitely not used to how fast they blaseball.

 **Milo Brown:** he/him. In the San Francisco Lovers shadows, has been with the team since season 1. Treant heritage. Kind and kinda oblivious, optimistic and the heart of the team. Good at knitting. Dating Kennedy Meh (see below). Is a Friend of Crows.

 **Adkins Gwiffin:** they/them. In the Mexico City Wild Wings shadows, has been with the team for an unknown amount of time but has spent all of it except the span of one election result in those shadows. Shapeshifting train griffin; source of transportation. Rugged bodyguard, but apparently still a big softy.

 **Mike Townsend:** he/him. In the Seattle Garages shadows, has been with the team since season 1. He's Mike Townsend. Likes baking, and can presumably also do other cooking stuff; likes whole wheat bread with extra seeds. Good at fighting games.

 **Terrell Bradley:** he/him. In the Seattle Garages shadows, formerly on the Yellowstone Magic and Hawai'i Fridays. Proud dad to literally everyone. Can cook, though it's mostly grilling. A source of positivity. Is also an Alternate.

 **Atlas Guerra:** she/her. In the Kansas City Breath Mints shadows, formerly on the Chicago Firefighters. Has a friendly rivalry with her sister, Eizabeth Guerra, and does some baking in her sister's bakery. Delighted by spiting her parents. Her curveball could hypothetically mess with the flow of Chicago river.

 **Mcdowell Karim:** they/them. In the Seattle Garages shadows, has been with the team for an unknown amount of time but has spent all of it except the span of one election result in those shadows. Has a divination shop, the Monkey's Paw, in the Seattle Shadows Co-Op. Probably dreams of relevance, but their brief time in the spotlight shows that the shop name fits. Psychic blood.

 **Nolanestophia Patterson:** she/her. In the Seattle Garages shadows, formerly on the Philadelphia Pies, Hades Tigers, and Hawai'i Fridays. Most of those letters are silent. Catgirl! Likes to nap and vibe. Plays ukelele. Has a fan club, the Pitter-Pattersons. Wound up in the shadows mostly by accident.

 **Nagomi Meng:** she/they. In the Hades Tigers shadows, has been with the team since season 1. Enjoys speedrunning both batting and pitching, as well as everything else. Married to the River Styx. Is, in fact, trying to clip into an alternate dimension or out of reality at any given moment. Glitchy!

 **Kennedy Meh:** he/him. In the Mexico City Wild Wings shadows, formerly on the San Francisco Lovers. A vampire. Goth and not interested in effort, he is totally busy with manager stuff you guys. Dating Milo Brown (see above). Is a Fire Eater.

 **Marquez Clark:** he/him. In the Kansas City Breath Mints shadows, has been with the team since season 1. Also a vampire, but extremely not goth. He is inexplicably British despite being native to Kansas and plays cricket (crlicket? clricket?). Bombastic weirdo. Has been beaned by Jaylen more times than any other player. Is Repeating.

 **Kennedy Cena:** they/them. In the Miami Dale shadows, formerly on the Philadelphia Pies. A (clone?? it's unclear) fusion of John F Kennedy and John Cena. Wrestling fan, but only acquaintances with the guy that they're 50%/95%/5% a version of, to their embarrassment. On top of that, is an Alternate. I do not particularly want to look at their face, but unfortunately for me I am now invested in all of the shadows players and it's seeming increasingly likely that if no one else writes a meta about them, I will, and either way I'll end up sort of liking them. This is inevitable.

 **???? Cembons:** as far as you should be concerned, that's just a string of letters. A string of letters that has appeared on the idol leaderboard, but a string of random letters nonetheless.

was that Denim Chilly at the end? Maybe. why? Because I want to put them here like one might Slanta Claus.


End file.
